Monday, December 1, 2014

The former Yugoslavia without Croatia and Serbia All-team 23 member team

Slovenia Euro 2000

I have create an all-time Yugoslavian team that featured players from all the former republics. This team is the all-time Yugoslavian team, excluding players from Croatia and Serbia. Please also see myAll-Time World Cup Team Index.Historically,
Yugoslavia is loaded with football talents, but they did not perform as
well as they should have. They only reached two European Championship
Final in the 1960's and an Olympic Gold Medal in 1960. While Croatian and Serbian players were key players for Yugoslavia, a large number of stars players were from the other regions.After independence, Slovenia had the best results after Serbia and Croatia. They qualified for Euro 2000. Against Yugoslavia(Serbia and Montenegro), they came back from going down 3-0 to draw 3-3. They also went to the WC Finals in 2002 and 2006.Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the WC Finals in 2014. Montenegro did not play as a separated entity until 2007, but. Predrag Mijatović starred for Yugoslavia(Serbia and Montenegro) during the World Cup Finals in 1998.

Team GK: Ivan Ćurković(Bosnia and Herzegovina)He played for AS Saint-Étienne
during the 1970s and early 1980s and was instrumental in the successful
runs of Saint-Étienne's football club to the top of the French League and to the finals of the European Cup in the 1975–76 season. He was capped 13 times for Yugoslavia.

GK: Samir Handanović (Slovenia)From 2004, he was capped over 70 times for Slovenia. He went to the WC Finals in 2010. For club football, he was best remembered as a top keeper in Serie A. He was voted the best keeper for 2013 in Italy.

GK: Asmir Begović (Bosnia and Herzegovina)He helped Bosnia and Herzegovina to qualify for the WC in 2014. Professionally, he spent most of his career with Stoke City in England.

RB: Branko Stanković(Bosnia and Herzegovina)He
was best remembered for his career with Red Star Belgrade, where he won
4 league titles and established himself as one of the best defender in
Yugoslavian football history. He played in both 1950 and 1954 World Cup
Finals.

He was capped 61 times for Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1992. He went to the WC Finals in 1990. He is the second most capped Bosian player for Yugoslavian national team.

CB: Dragan Holcer (Slovenia)He was born in captivity in a Nazi prison camp to Slovenian father. He played 52 times for Yugoslavia and went to play in Euro 1968.

LB: Mirsad Fazlagić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)He played 450 matches for FK Sarajevo in the Yugoslavian First League. He made 19 appearances for Yugoslavia. He is especially known internationally for being the captain of Yugoslavia during the 1968 European Football Championship, where they came secondby barely losing to the home side Italy after a two-legged finalin Rome.

RW/RB: Hasan Salihamidžić(Bosnia and Herzegovina)He is best remembered for playing 9 seasons with Bayern Munich and scoring a goal in the 2001 Champions' League final.He earned 43 caps and scored six goals for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He is regarded by many as one of the most successful Bosnian football players in recent times.

DM: Srečko Katanec(Slovenia)In 1988 he joined VfB Stuttgart. This team reached UEFA Cup finals in 1989 and lost against Diego Maradona's Napoli. He stayed in Germany only one season. In 1989 he signed for Italian Sampdoria and already at his first season there he won European Cup Winners' Cup. In 1991, his Sampdoria won a "Scudetto", next year it reached Champions League finals and lost against FC Barcelona. He played for both Yugoslavia and Slovenia national teams.

At home, he was known for his career with Olimpija. In 1975 he signed a two-year contract with Schalke 04 of the German Bundesliga for what was a world record fee for that season. He moved to Bayern Muinch two seasons later. He was a deep-lying playmaker.

CM: Mehmed Baždarević(Bosnia and Herzegovina)He collected 54 caps and scored 4 goals for Yugoslavia between 1983 and 1992, and another 2 caps for Bosina and Herzegovina. He played for FK Željezničar Sarajevo and went to the UEFA semifinal in 1985.

AM: Dejan Savicevic (Montenegro)He
was a part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won the 1990–91 European
Cup before joining A.C. Milan in 1992. With Milan, he won three Serie A
titles and the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League. He represented Yugoslavia
at the 1990 and 1998 FIFA World Cups.

He was born in Bosnia of a mixed family in 1941. He played with FK Željezničar Sarajevo before moving aboard in 1970. Apart from three months in Holland, he played mostly in France. He was capped 16 times for Yugoslavia.

RW: Danilo Popivoda (Slovenia)He went to the WC Finals in 1974 and the European Championship in 1976. He was capped 20 times. He played for Olimpija Ljubljana.

AM: Zlatko Zahovič (Slovenia)He was a key player for Slovenia when they qualified for Euro 2000 and World Cup Finals in 2002. The best part of his club career was spent in Portugal where he played for both Porto and Benfica.AM:Safet Sušić(Bosnia and Herzegovina)He was one of the greatest Yugoslavian players. He
played for FK Sarajevo, Paris Saint-Germain and Red Star Saint-Ouen and
internationally for Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was voted
Paris Saint-Germain's best player of all time and the best foreign
player of Ligue 1 of all time by France Football. He represented the nation at the 1982 and 1990 World Cups, and at Euro 1984.

Regarded as one of the best Yugoslav players in the 1970s and 1980s, Halilhodžić had successful playing spells with Velež Mostar, and French clubs Nantes and Paris Saint-Germain before retiring in the mid-1980s. He also appeared for the Yugoslav national team and was part of the squads which won the 1978 European Under-21 Championship before earning 15 full international caps for Yugoslavia.

He was the European Golden Boot winner in 1991 when he scored 34 goals. With Red Star Belgrade, he scored 84 goals from 91 league appearances, and winning the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 1991. He was capped 27 times for Yugoslavia and 6 times for Macedonia.

He scored 29 times in 37 games for Yugoslavia between 1970–1977. He moved to AEK Athens in 1977, where he becme one of its greatest ever players.

ST: Predrag Mijatović (Montenegro)He
is best remembered for scoring the winning goal against Juventus as
Real Madrid won the 1998 Champions' league, its first title since 1966.
He
played 73 times for Yugoslavia. In 1997, Mijatović was runner-up for
the Ballon d'Or, behind Ronaldo and ahead of Zinedine Zidane.

Predrag Mijatović

Honorable Mention Enver Marić, Dusan Bajevic, Mirko Vucinic.

Squad Explanation

I went for a pair of younger keepers over Enver Marić.

Dejan Savicevic is probably one of the most underrated players in history.

Bosnia World Cup 2014

Starting lineupFormation: 4-3-3Apart from the starting keeper, all of the starters are obvious choices.Safet Sušić and Saviceviuc would be the twin-playmakers.